BLOCKADE

US, 1938, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Henry Fonda, Madeleine Carroll, Leo Carrillo, John Halliday, V1adimir Sokoloff, Robert Warwick, Reginald Denny.
Directed by William Dieterle.

Blockade, according to Leslie Halliwell, was presented as the first Hollywood drama about the Spanish War situation of the late '30s. He points out that neither Franco nor Fascists were mentioned. In retrospect, the stance of the film is more obvious. However, it is a very dated action romance with a final plea speech by Henry Fonda.

Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by William Dieterle (and the film compares badly to his other successes at the time including the biographies of Pasteur, Zola, Juarez), the film is black and white Hollywood-made drama - with an attempt at re-creating Spain. A much better film, of course, was Sam Wood's version of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.

The film was written by John Howard Lawson, later one of the Hollywood Ten. It is a criticism of Fascism and the deprivation of people's rights - especially for peasants who are oppressed. This gives the opportunity for Henry Fonda to be at his sincere and earnest best. Madeleine Carroll has a glamorous role moving from one side to the other.

Halliwell quotes critic Frank S. Nugent as saying 'The film has a curious unreality considering the grim reality behind it.' This seems an accurate comment on the film.